Media 2020 opens with a call for more understanding and cooperation

Speaking at the opening session of the Media 2020 Dialogue in Astana, All India Radio Director-General Fayyaz Sheheryar encouraged Eastern and Western media to understand each other better, rather than taking adversarial positions on media issues.

“The world looks different and is often bipolar between east and west. History, geography and culture can change how we think and how we look at each other, we must resist this and try to understand each other.

“We have begun to see through a bipolar prism, creating a kind of ruckus inside the media industry… We need to bring harmony to media organisations across the world.

“In the west people think of themselves as highly independent individuals, but not everyone thinks that way. We need to move on from the bipolar view of media as western and eastern…”

Sheheryar mentioned a few examples of the lack of understanding, saying these problems of perception need to be fixed by dialog and growing understanding.

“China says 60% of western media reports on China are negative. They claim that western media plays up the weaknesses of Chinese media, ignore the successes and highlight the potential for conflict.

“There is similar trends for Islamic media, criticising the over reliance on using government officials and lack of independence of news media.

The West perceives that Chinese, Russian and Islamic media are characterised by political and cultural bias, according to Sheheryar, but this view is too simplistic and it does not reflect deeper understanding of the values of each type of media.

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